


A Foster Kid's Confessional: 11 Unexpected Uses For Families

by fandomsnstuff



Category: Voltron: Legendary Defender
Genre: Alternate Universe - Modern Setting, Brief homophobia, M/M, changes between first person and third person pov, some OCs as minor characters
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2018-12-29
Updated: 2018-12-29
Packaged: 2019-09-30 04:10:31
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 14,241
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/17216747
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/fandomsnstuff/pseuds/fandomsnstuff
Summary: You know how some rando on the internet tells you their entire life story and it somehow ends in a recipe?This is like that, but without the recipe at the end.Keith Kogane's mom abandoned him as a baby, and his dad died when he was six, so he spent his entire childhood stuck in a system that wasn't made to help him. But one day, in his first year of high school, he met Lance McClain and his life changed. So, he's decided to write down some of the turning points from that moment on in a comprehensive list.Italics are written in first person pov and represent what Keith would have written himself in this "article".Non-italics are written in third person pov and are a telling of what happened at that point in Keith's life, rather than having them be written in first person by an adult Keith.





	A Foster Kid's Confessional: 11 Unexpected Uses For Families

**Author's Note:**

> If you're like me and can't deal with first person fics, just bear with it, please. Most of it is in third person, so you'll survive.

**A Foster Kid’s Confessional:**

**11 Unexpected Uses For Families**

 

_ My family isn’t what you would call ‘traditional’, but then again, I’ve never really cared about tradition. As a kid who was orphaned at 6 years old and tossed from foster home to foster home, I was never settled anywhere long enough to adopt any traditions of my own until adulthood. Unless you count anger issues as a tradition.  _

 

_ As a kid, I never thought I’d have a family of my own. I thought I didn’t deserve it. Not to discredit the good foster parents out there, but I somehow ended up with all the shitty ones that use these kids to get an extra couple hundred dollars a month. I was told I didn’t deserve the nice toys, the nice clothes. I didn’t deserve Christmas presents or the mario lunch box that all their ‘real’ kids had. I didn’t deserve to be adopted and I didn’t deserve a real family or loving household.  _

 

_ Luckily, the universe threw me a bone, and at 14 years old I was transferred to a new city where I moved into what would be my last foster home. Through a series of events over the course of my high school years to present, I’m the happiest I’ve ever been; married to the love of my life, raising my amazing children, doing the job I love, with more friends and family in my life than I could have ever imagined.  _

 

_ So, I’ve decided to chronicle some of the events in that series into a comprehensive list to document my change from the lonely, edgy, orphaned, and bullied kid with anger issues into the happy and confident man I am today.  _

 

**_11\. They make you feel better when you’re down._ **

 

_ It all started in ninth grade, with every loner kid’s worst nightmare- _

 

“-and you’ll all be completing this project in groups of two.” 

 

As soon as the word ‘groups’ came out of the teacher’s mouth, the classroom was a bustle of kids turning to each other and picking out their partners. Keith groaned and dropped his onto his desk. He hated this. He had no friends in this class, or any class for that matter. 

 

Why bother making friends if they’re just going to ditch him eventually?

 

He lifted his head up and watched from his seat in the back corner as kids leaned across the aisles or twisted around in their chairs to talk to their friends about the project. Up at the front of the room, the teacher held up her hands to quiet them down.

 

“Does anyone not have a partner?” She asked once the chatter died down. Keith didn’t bother raising his hand. It wouldn’t be the first group project he’d done on his own, and it wasn’t even a presentation, so it’s not like the rest of the class would know he’d had to do it on his own. But then, one lone hand was raised across the aisle and one row up from where Keith sat. “No partner, Lance?” The teacher asked. The student in question shook his head. The teacher scanned the class in front of her, looking for somewhere she could place him. As her gaze wandered towards Keith’s side of the room, he tried to avert his eyes, but she called him out anyways. 

 

“Keith,” she said, “do you have a partner, yet?” 

 

Keith considered lying, but no one would buy it, he was always alone and rarely talked to anyone. He sighed and sat up properly. “No,” he said, “I don’t.” 

 

The teacher smiled, “there you go, Lance, you and Keith can be partners.” 

 

Keith could feel all the eyes in the class that were fixated on him. He averted his eyes away from the front of the class and down to his desk, and even as their attention was moved from him and back to their new assignment, Keith’s skin still tingled from the unwanted attention. He glared at the patterns woven through the synthetic wood of his desk, trying to make himself look unapproachable so that any lingering attention on him went away. 

 

“Hey.” 

 

Keith was torn out of his thoughts by a voice right next to him. He looked up to see Lance, his project partner, standing next to the empty desk beside Keith, backpack, binder, and pencil case in hand. Keith watched as he hung his bag on the back of the chair and dropped his other stuff on the desk, sitting down. 

 

“What are you doing?” Keith blurted out, maybe a little harsher than he intended.

 

Lance rolled his eyes, “I know this might be a new concept to you, but it’s called ‘sitting next to you’.”

 

Keith glared, “I meant  _ why _ are you sitting next to me?” 

 

Lance looked over at Keith, “because we’re working together? Obviously?” 

 

Keith slid down in his chair. “Unfortunately,” he mumbled. 

 

“What the hell is that supposed to mean?!” Lance snapped. 

 

Just then, the bell rang, signalling the end of the day. Keith pushed his chair back and stood up, grabbing his bag and swinging it over one arm. “It means I don’t like working with other people.” 

 

He walked out of the room, leaving Lance behind. As he started marching down the hall, through all the chatter around him he could hear, “hey wait! Keith!” 

 

At the sound of his name, Keith stopped and turned to see Lance coming up to him. Once he was close enough, Keith said, deadpan, “what do you want?” 

 

Lance huffed, “I didn’t ask to be paired up with you, okay? I would much rather be working with my actual friends, but it had to be groups of two and they’d already decided to work together.” 

 

“Then why didn’t you ask to do a group of three? It probably would have been allowed. Then you get to work with your friends, and I get to work alone, and everyone’s happy.” 

 

Lance seemed to falter slightly at the question. His irritated outside momentarily fading into something Keith couldn’t quite pin down, but his irritation was back so quickly, Keith wondered if he’d imagined it. Lance crossed his arms, “it doesn’t matter, that’s passed and now we’re stuck working together. Since we didn’t get to plan anything in class, we should meet up at either your house or mine to at least get started.” 

 

“Don’t we get class time for that?” 

 

“Yes, but we could also start before because the sooner we get this done, the sooner we never have to talk to each other again.” 

 

Keith shrugged, “works for me.” He stepped to the side and gestured down the hall, “lead the way.” 

 

Lance looked between the emptying hallway and Keith. “Me?” 

 

“We are not going to my house, so it’s either yours or the library.” Keith’s new foster parents weren’t the type of people who would appreciate having random kids from school brought over to their house unexpectedly. Especially since Keith was, to them, an extra paycheck each month. 

 

Lance marched past Keith, “follow me, mullet.” 

 

Keith furrowed his eyebrows as he followed, “mullet?” 

 

“Your hair. It’s terrible.” 

 

“It’s not a mullet.” 

 

“I beg to differ.” 

 

Keith scoffed, “geez, if I never see you again after this project, it’ll be too soon.” 

 

“Couldn’t agree more.” 

 

_ Yeah, we were both jerks that first afternoon. We still hold things said in those conversations over each other’s heads to this day. I especially like to quote ‘the sooner we get this done, the sooner we never have to talk to each other again.’ because boy, did that backfire. He often counters with my ‘if I never see you again, it’ll be too soon’.  _

 

_ But it didn’t actually take us all that long to warm up to each other and start on the road to where we are now. He took me back to his house, I met his mom (I remember thinking how someone like Lance could have come from someone as nice as her). We were having dinner, and coincidentally his siblings all chose that night to come over for dinner.  _

 

_ So here I was, at the house of this kid that I’d decided I didn’t like and was never going to speak to again, and I was having dinner with his mom, dad, two sisters, two brothers, his brother’s wives, and his niece and nephew. That’s eleven people all talking to me, asking me questions about myself. As I’m sure you can imagine, for a kid like me who’d been alone for years, I was-  _

 

Overwhelmed. Keith was so overwhelmed with the situation he was currently in. Lance had somehow failed to mention that when Keith came over to work on their project, there was going to be ten extra people there. He’d expected four, tops. Lance’s parents, and maybe some siblings. But hoo, boy. 

 

Keith had eight people (Lance’s parents, siblings, and sisters in-law) all asking him questions. Some about himself, some about his family, some about where he’d lived before when he mentioned he was new to the city. Keith tried his best, but he wasn’t used to talking about himself. He preferred to fade into the background and disappear. He also didn’t want to spill to these people his whole life story about being a foster kid. As soon as kids at school found out about that, he tended to start getting shit for it. 

 

_ ‘Hey, Keith, your mom called- oh wait.’ _

 

_ ‘Hey Keith, knock knock.’ _

_ ‘Who’s there?’ _

_ ‘Not your parents’ _

 

Kids were cruel. Not very creative, it was all the same jokes, but they still sucked. Keith had gotten into a handful of fights at his old schools, and he was determined to avoid the orphan jokes for as long as he could. 

 

Eventually, dinner mercifully ended and Lance’s mom took Keith’s plate and went into the kitchen, followed by the rest of her family, all carrying their plates and assorted dishes from dinner. Keith watched as the all moved and reached around each other to clean up. 

 

It was watching them that reminded Keith suddenly that he didn’t have that, and that he never would. He was a ticking time bomb, set to go off when he turned eighteen when he’d be thrown out onto the streets to fend for himself, no longer the system’s problem. After a minute or two, Keith couldn’t watch anymore. 

 

He stood up from his place at the table and pulled out his phone (the cheapest his foster parents could find) and stood in the entrance to the kitchen. 

 

“Lance,” the boy in question, along with the rest of his family, turned to look at him. Keith swallowed, ignoring all the extra attention, “I actually have to go now. My, uh, mom just texted me,” he waved his phone around, “and she wants me home.” 

 

“What? But we haven’t even started yet!” 

 

Keith shrugged, “nothing I can do about it, I need to go.” 

 

Lance frowned, “fine.” He turned back to where he’d been loading plates into the dishwasher, “I’ll see you tomorrow.” 

 

“Uh, thanks for dinner,” Keith said to Lance’s mom. 

 

“Oh, it’s no problem. Do you need a ride home?” 

 

Keith shook his head, “thanks, though.” 

 

_ My foster parents didn’t actually care where I was after school. I could have died and they wouldn’t care. It would just mean more space for another kid to get more money. So, yes, I totally lied to the faces of some of the nicest people I’ve ever met, but I didn’t know what else to do, and Lance totally gave it to me the next day at school- _

 

“What the hell, man?” 

 

Keith was sitting alone in a stairwell, underneath the stairs, and looked up from the book he was reading to see an angry Lance standing over him, arms crossed. “How did you find me?” 

 

Lance rolled his eyes, “I just thought ‘where would someone who thinks they’re edgy and cool eat lunch?’ and look, I found you.” 

 

Keith snapped his book shut, “did you just come here to insult me?” 

 

“Did you not hear me say ‘what the hell, man?’ when I walked up?” 

 

“I heard it, what about it?”

 

“What a- what do you mean ‘what about it’?”

 

Keith shrugged, “I mean, I don’t know what you’re asking me. I thought you were smarter than this.” 

 

“I am plenty smart,” Lance said, pointing an accusatory finger at Keith, “what was up with you totally ditching me last night?” 

 

“I told you, I had to go home.” 

 

“Bullshit. Tell me the truth.” 

 

Keith felt something bubble up inside him. He huffed, “you want the truth, Lance? Fine.” Keith set his book aside and stood up. He was a tad shorter than Lance, but he glared right into Lance’s eyes, “the truth is my ‘parents’,” Keith said, using air quotes, “couldn’t care less about where I am. I didn’t have to leave last night, but I wanted to.” 

 

Lance narrowed his eyes, “why?” 

 

“Because your family was overwhelming.”

 

Keith could see the rage boil up inside Lance, “oh yeah? The nicest people I know are too good for Mr. Edgy Mc-Cool Man, huh? Trying to make you feel welcome and at home too much for you?” 

 

Keith’s hands clenched into fists, “yes, as a matter of fact, it was too much for me.” 

 

“Well I’m  _ sorry _ kindness makes you so uncomfortable!” 

 

“Well  _ I’M _ sorry that I’ve spent the last twelve years of my life being seen as nothing but a paycheck! And I’m  _ sorry  _ that being reminded that I’m never going to have a family made me  _ a little uncomfortable _ . And I’m SO sorry that I’ve been a lonely kid my whole life to  _ protect myself from being left behind again _ !!!” 

 

Keith willed the frustrated tears he could feel burning his eyes to go away. Any anger in Lance seemed to have disappeared, and he was looking at Keith with sad eyes. “Keith-”

 

“I don’t need your pity,” Keith spat. He sat back down and picked his book up from where he’d left it on the floor, “just go back to your gaggle of friends and pretend this never happened.” 

 

Keith pretended to read, waiting for Lance to walk away and tell everyone about the pathetic orphan kid crying under the stairs. But then, he felt a presence next to him. He looked over to see Lance sitting next to him. 

 

“What are you doing?” 

 

“Eating lunch with you.”

 

“Why?” 

 

Lance looked over at Keith from where he was pulling his lunch out of his bag. “You said you didn’t need my pity, so I don’t need yours when I tell you that all my friends were trash talking me behind my back.” 

 

“Been there.” 

 

“Yeah?” 

 

Keith nodded, “only it was foster parents that I was sure were going to adopt me calling me a delinquent and saying they didn’t want me.” 

 

“Harsh.” 

 

Keith nodded. They fell into a silence, Lance eating his lunch and Keith reading his book. An hour later, the bell rang for classes to start up again for the second half of the day. The two boys stood up and looked at each other. 

 

“Does this mean we’re friends now?” Lance asked. 

 

Keith considered it. He hadn’t had a real friend in ages, and for all he knew, Lance coming to eat with him could be some cruel joke being pulled on him. 

 

But, for some reason Keith couldn’t explain, he found himself shrugging and saying, “sure, why not.”

 

**_10\. They want what’s best for you._ **

 

_ So, ninth grade I made my first friend. The start of me breaking out of the ‘loner’ label and building my own family. But, as a teen in the foster system, I was on a time limit. Once I turned eighteen, I was on my own. My foster family at the time was sure as hell not going to adopt me, and even then I didn’t want them to because they were assholes. Here’s my forewarning for homophobia (like I said. Assholes.). So- _

 

“-I’m just minding my own business, trying to get my lunch, and I’m being  _ bombarded _ with it.” Keith stabs at his salad a little harder than needed as his foster father is telling the story about his lunch break that day, “look, I don’t have anything against it. Just don’t shove it in my face like that. It’s disgusting.” 

 

“They were just holding hands,” Keith hissed. He thought he’d been quiet enough that they couldn’t hear him, but his foster father’s gaze bore into him. 

 

“What was that, boy?” 

 

Keith focused on his half-eaten salad, “nothing.” 

 

He slammed his fist on the table, and Keith flinched, his foster mother and sister didn’t even move, “don’t lie to me! Tell me what you said, boy!” 

 

Keith didn’t dare lift his eyes, “I said that they were just holding hands. It’s not like they were making out or something.” 

 

Keith could feel his foster father’s glare on him, “it’s disgusting and wrong, boy. Why do you care, anyway? Are you a homo, boy? Hm?”

 

Keith grit his teeth, “no. I’m not.” 

 

“Good. I won’t be having any of that in my house. Do you understand?” 

 

“Yes.” 

 

“Look at me when you’re talking to me.” Keith finally lifted his eyes to his foster father’s. “And address me properly. Now try again.” He leaned over the table slightly towards Keith, “I will not have any of that gay shit in my house. Do you understand?” 

 

“Yes. Sir.” Keith hissed through his teeth. He looked from his foster mother then back at his foster father, “may I be excused? Your story made me lose my appetite.” 

 

“Clean up your plate.” 

 

Keith shoved his chair back, tossed the rest of his food and put his plate in the dishwasher. He marched out the front door and into the mild september night. He didn’t know where he was going, he just needed to not be in that house, at least for an hour or two. 

 

Keith was 15 years old, and he’d known he was gay since about the first grade, when he first heard one of his first foster parents use the term in a story much like the one his current foster father was just telling. He had asked what the term meant, and after they told him, he just came out with,  _ ‘well I like boys. Does that make me gay?’ _ , and the next thing he knew he was being driven to another city to his second foster home. 

 

He didn’t realize until he was older that that was the reason why they hadn’t wanted him anymore. Keith learned that the closet was the safest place for him, and he planned on staying there as long as possible. 

 

When Keith pulled himself out of his thoughts, he found that he had somehow walked the nearly 30 minute walk to the shopping district of the city, with stores lining the streets. He observed the light pouring out the windows and doors, and the shadows cast as the setting sun hit the buildings. He wandered further down the street he was on, his eyes drifting over the windows of the shops he passed. As he came to an intersection, his eyes caught on a ‘Help Wanted’ sign posted in one of the windows. 

 

Without even looking to see what kind of store it was, Keith pushed the door open and walked in. There was a soft tinkling sound of a bell that was placed above the door that caught the attention of the two people standing at the counter at the other end of the store. One was an older woman, and the other was a younger, but still adult, man. 

 

The woman smiled at Keith, “hello there, dear, what can I do for you?” 

 

Keith suddenly realized that he hadn’t planned what he was going to say when he walked in. “I, um,” he stumbled on his words, “I saw your sign...in the window.” 

 

“You want to apply for the job here?” The younger man asked. 

 

“Yes.” 

 

“Well come over here, dear.” The older woman waved him over. Keith crossed the room and she held out her hand for Keith. He shook it and she introduced herself as Maria, “-and this is my son, Jonathan.” 

 

“Keith.” 

 

“So, Keith,” Jonathan said, “do you have a resume?” Keith froze, suddenly realizing that he had nothing that people usually have when they’re applying for jobs. Jonathan sighed, “I’ll take that as a no.” 

 

Maria waved a hand, “oh, don’t worry about that, dear.” She smiled at Keith from across the counter, “Keith, I just have one question for you: what do you think of flowers?” 

 

“Flowers?”

 

Jonathan sighed, “mom-”

 

“Shush, I want to hear what he has to say. Yes, dear, flowers. What do you think of them?” She swept her arm out, gesturing behind Keith. 

 

Keith turned to see that, somehow, he had missed that this store was a florist. It was one room, four walls, each with tables covered in an assortment of potted flowers and bouquets, and some hanging baskets. Keith took in the array of colours and shapes and sizes of all the flowers around them. He turned back to Maria, to see her waiting patiently for his answer with a kind smile on her face. 

 

“Well, I think they’re pretty. They come in almost any colour. You can also use them for anything, really. Like, they’re usually for weddings and couples and stuff, but they’re also for funerals, or when, like, babies are born. Or holidays.” 

 

Maria’s smile grew, “that’s right. I say there’s a bouquet for any occasion.” She came around the counter and towards Keith, “every flower has a different meaning, there are even some where the same flower means different things depending on it’s colour.” She lead Keith over to a display of roses, “like the rose. What do you think it means?” 

 

Keith looked up at her, “aren’t roses for, like, love or something?” 

 

“ _ Red _ roses are romance. But-” she pointed to each colour as she talked, “-yellow roses are for friends and wishing well-being, pink roses represent beauty but can be for any occasion, and white roses are remembrance and hope.” 

 

Jonathan walked over to them, “mom, you can’t just-”

 

“Shush!” Maria shot her son a look, and Keith looked between them. “Keith,” she said, getting his attention back solely on her, “what do you want out of this job?” 

 

“I don’t know. A way to take care of myself, I guess?” 

 

“I think you’re a very responsible young man, Keith. Planning for you future and saving up money for it is very smart.” 

 

“Thank you?” 

 

Maria put a hand on his shoulder, “I’ll tell you what, you come back here tomorrow when you’re done school, and we’ll get started then.” 

 

“Get started?” 

 

“Mom!” Jonathan interrupted, “you can’t just-” 

 

“Yes I can, and I just did. This is my shop, Jonathan, and I’ll do with it what I will. Keith here seems like a very nice young man, and I think he’ll do a wonderful job, don’t you?” 

 

Maria took Keith by the shoulders and turned him to face Jonathan, who had his arms crossed. He looked Keith up and down. Keith swallowed nervously, but when Jonathan’s steely face softened into a small smile, the tension in Keith’s shoulders relaxed. 

 

“Okay, mom. You win. I just don’t know why you asked me to help you hire someone if you were just going to go your own way, anyway.” 

 

Maria simply shrugged. Keith turned to face her again, “I’ll see you tomorrow then, Keith?” 

 

“Yeah, definitely.” Keith said. 

 

When Keith stepped back out onto the sidewalk, he looked back at the window to see Maria taking down the ‘Help Wanted’ sign. She waved at him, and he waved back at her before starting off back towards his house. 

 

_ Honestly, on that walk home, I only had one thought: ‘what the hell just happened?’. It was one of the strangest conversations I had ever had. I eventually came to learn that Maria was just Like That. She was 65 years young and she wasn’t about to let anyone tell her what to do.  _

 

_ Becoming a florist is one of the best decisions I’ve ever made. I absolutely fell in love with it, so not only did I have money saved up (in a bank account I set up for myself without my foster parents knowing) for when I turned 18, I had a job that I loved and knew that I wanted to do it for the rest of my life.  _

 

_ And I didn’t mention Lance in this one, but we just got closer to each other throughout the year. Turns out his ‘friends’ from ninth grade just treated him like a joke, and I was on the verge of fighting them when Lance told me all the things they would say about him. _

 

**_9\. They stick with you through anything._ **

 

_ So I made it thought tenth grade, one best friend and one adult I trusted in the bag. Eleventh grade rolls around. The only person who knew about my job was Lance. Not just because he was my only friend, but because if other people at school knew about it, I would never hear the end of it.  _

 

_ We already got made fun of occasionally for being friends, people thought it was real funny to ‘accuse’ us of dating and laugh about it. So, if they knew I worked at a florists, it would only make it worse. And since even Lance didn’t know I was gay, and we both thought he was straight at the time, we just kept the florist thing to ourselves and prayed no one we knew would ever come into the shop.  _

 

_ Things were pretty okay for a while, though. It wasn’t until- _

 

“-this saturday?” 

 

Keith stared at the guy standing in front of him. Bradley Harper, one of the most popular guys in their grade. Football star, super hot, muscley, and he was asking Keith- “you want me to come to your party? Me?” He nodded. Keith crossed his arms and looked around, “alright, where are the cameras? You’re fucking with me.” 

 

“No, Keith, I’m serious. I want you to come to my end-of-first-semester party this saturday.” 

 

“Why?” 

 

He shrugged and fixed Keith with a sheepish look, “honestly, I’ve always thought you were kind of cool since you moved here in ninth grade. I was just too chickenshit to say anything.” 

 

“Right.” Keith said, deadpan. 

 

“Just…” Bradley hesitated, “think about it? Okay? I’ll see you around,” and he walked away. 

 

_ Now, you can imagine my confusion. This was a guy I’d only ever talked to when I was telling him and his jerky friends to fuck off. So, naturally, facing this decision, I went to Lance, and his advice was- _

 

“You should go!” 

 

“Who are you and what have you done with Lance McClain?” 

 

Lance grabbed one of his pillows from behind him and hit Keith with it. “I’m serious! When else are you going to get the chance to go to an Asshole Party!”

 

_ That’s what we called the parties the ‘popular’ people threw. Asshole Parties. Because they were all assholes. Thinking back, it sounds like the name someone would give a gay orgy, which is why I will never tell my kids about that name and hopefully they’ll never read this.  _

 

Keith shrugged, “why would I  _ want _ to go to an Asshole Party?” 

 

_ Like. Did I honest-to-God not hear myself when I talked? _

 

Lance grabbed Keith’s arm and shook him, “you have to go and tell me everything! I want to know what they do.”

 

Keith rolled his eyes, “we know what they do, they drink, make out, and have sex with each other. I’m not interested.” 

 

Lance clutched his pillow to his chest, giving Keith his best puppy-dog eyes, “come on, man. Just go for an hour, then when they’re all drunk out of their minds, dip out and we can play mario kart the rest of the night.” Keith looked over at Lance. “You know you don’t work on sundays, store’s closed.” 

 

The two boys stared each other down, and Keith caved. “Fine, I’ll go. But only for fifteen minutes.” 

 

“Forty-five.”

 

“Twenty.” 

 

“Thirty.” 

 

“Fine.” 

 

_ So, I agreed to go to the party. I wanted Lance to come, but he wasn’t invited, and we didn’t want any more ridicule than necessary. I gathered up all my courage and thus began the night where the worst thing someone could do to me happened. Yes, people would call me names and make jokes about how I was an orphan or whatever. But this, this is just downright shitty and mean-spirited. I get to the party- _

 

Keith knocked, and Bradley answered the door. 

 

“You actually came!” He said, “come on in.” 

 

Keith followed Bradley into his house, only to see that other than the two of them, the house was empty. “Where’s everyone else?” 

 

“Oh, you’re the first one to show up. Do you want a drink?” 

 

Bradley made his way over to the kitchen and Keith followed, “um, sure, what do you-” seeing mostly (only) alcoholic drinks on the counter, Keith paused, “oh, I don’t know…” 

 

Bradley opened a can and handed it to Keith, “come on, just try it.” 

 

_ Kids, don’t give in to peer pressure, because it might get you drunk for the first time and lead to things that make the rest of your high school career a living hell.  _

 

Some time later, Keith was buzzed. Bradley just kept replacing empty drinks with new ones, and the more Keith drank them, the more he didn’t mind the refills. They were sitting on the couch, some music that Keith didn’t really like was playing, and the tv was muted on some channel he didn’t care about. Not to mention, they were still the only two there.

 

“Where is everybody else?” Keith asked, his vision a tad out of focus and his words a little slurred.

 

“Well, Keith, I’ll be honest, no one else is actually coming.” 

 

Keith furrowed his eyebrows, “what do you mean, I thought this was a party?” 

 

“Well, Keith, I actually just wanted to get you alone.” 

 

Keith, his suspicion hindered by the alcohol, innocently asked, “why?” Bradley took hold of one of Keith’s hands and slid himself to sit a little closer to Keith. Keith looked down at their hands and back up at Bradley. “What are you doing?” 

 

“Keith, I wanted you here because I wanted to tell you that…” he smiled at Keith, “I like you.” 

 

Keith’s eyes widened, “you like me?” Bradley nodded. “Like,  _ like me _ like me?”

 

“Yes, I like you  _ like that _ ,” he tucked Keith’s hair behind his ear and cupped Keith’s jaw. 

 

Keith felt his heart rate increase as Bradley slowly leant towards him. He wasn’t sure why he was doing it, but Keith felt himself leaning forwards, ever so slowly, and his eyes falling shut. 

 

But their lips never met. 

 

After a moment, he felt both points of contact between him and Bradley go cold, and a quiet voice saying, “holy shit.” 

 

Keith opened his eyes, to see that Bradley had moved away from him again. He was laughing and looking at Keith, pure glee in his eyes. “Holy shit, you were  _ actually  _ going to kiss me!” 

 

“Well, yeah, I mean-” 

 

“You actually  _ are  _ gay! Oh, my God!” 

 

Suddenly, Bradley’s laughter wasn’t the only laughter in the room. People started emerging from hiding spots around the room. Bradley’s actual, asshole friends. And they were holding up their phones, all pointed right at Keith. 

 

Keith stood up and looked around at the people surrounding him, before bolting for the door. They didn’t follow him farther than the front porch as he ran down the street, but the mocking kissy noises they were making at him followed him all the way to Lance’s house. 

 

Keith was knocking frantically on the door, when Lance finally opened it. 

 

“Keith, you know you don’t have to knock, you can just-” then, Lance saw the state Keith was in. Tears running down his cheeks, his hair a disaster, and a little unstable on his feet. 

 

He ushered Keith inside and up to his bedroom, closing the door behind him. Keith sat cross-legged on Lance’s bed. Lance went to sit next to him, but Keith moved away. 

 

“You won’t want to sit next to me after I tell you.” 

 

“Tell me what? Dude, what happened at that party? What’s wrong?” 

 

Keith looked down at his lap, “it wasn’t a party. It was an outing.” 

 

“What? You mean like, to the park?” Keith shook his head. “Then what does that mean?” 

 

“It means it was a trick to out me.” 

 

“Out you?” 

 

“Lance…” Keith lifted his head to look Lance in the eyes for the first time that night. He could see the concern in his eyes, how badly he wanted to get closer and comfort him. Keith didn’t want to ruin the best and only real friendship he’s ever had, but Lance was going to find out one way or another. “I’m gay.” 

 

Keith could feel tears pricking at his eyes again, “And Bradley got me kind of drunk, then told me that he liked me, then went in to kiss me, so I went in to kiss him, but he pulled away and started laughing and everyone was hiding and filming the whole time, and they’re going to show everyone,” Keith was actively crying, hot tears rolling down his cheeks, “and I just- I’m scared, Lance, I don’t know what’s going to happen.” 

 

Lance shuffled the short distance between him and Keith, and pulled him into a hug. He held Keith tight and just let him cry. 

 

When Keith’s sobbing subsided, Lance still held on to him, whispering soothing things to him. “It’s okay, Keith. You’re going to be okay. I’m not going anywhere, we’ll get through this together.” 

 

“You’re okay with it?” Keith asked. 

 

“Yeah, why wouldn’t I be?” 

 

Keith shrugged, still being held in Lance’s hug, “I don’t know. You do know that they’re going to come after you, too. Since you’re still hanging out with me.” 

 

Lance hummed, “I know, but if I was shitty enough to ditch you just for this, then I would have ditched you when they first started saying we were dating, don’t you think?” 

 

_ Lance was honestly my rock through this whole thing. At the time, he thought he was straight, and the poor guy put up with the same bullying I did. The names, slurs, even the occasional violence. Not to mention the entire school was convinced we were dating after that. But we just had to hold our heads up high and march from one class to the next, pretend like it didn’t bother us, because that’s what they wanted. We just had to stick together, get through the next year and a half, and we were free.  _

 

“How did your family take it when they found out?” 

 

“My foster sister obviously told them, and they obviously didn’t like it, but it’s not like they can throw me out. Legally, I have to stay with them.”

 

“That’s good, I guess. But remember you can always come stay with us if you need to.” 

 

“I know. Thanks, Lance.” 

 

“Of course. ...Does Maria know?” 

 

“Yeah, when I had a black eye a few weeks back, she made me tell her what happened. She wanted to know why I got into a fight, so I told her the truth.”

 

“What did she say?” 

 

“She was actually super supportive. I might have cried a little.”

 

“That’s awesome!” 

 

“Yeah, but now she won’t stop asking me if I’ve met any cute boys lately. Or she’ll tell me about all these ‘nice young men’ she’s seen around town.” 

 

_ I got lucky, the two most important people in my life were supportive when I came out/was outed. But, I also totally lied to both of them. I told Maria basically the same thing I told Lance, they weren’t exactly okay with it, but they legally had to keep me around, so I was fine. What actually happened-  _

 

“-you’re disgusting!! If we didn’t have to keep you around here until you were 18, you would be out on that street right now! You can stay until you age out, but don’t expect to be treated with respect as long as you keep up this disgusting lifestyle.” 

 

His foster father was yelling at him as his foster mother and sister stood behind him, glaring daggers at him. 

 

“Why don’t I just leave, then,” Keith snapped, “I don’t need you or your house! It’s not like I was ever welcome here in the first place!” 

 

“Fine! Leave! No one wants you here anyway!” 

 

Keith turned and stormed towards the front door with nothing but the clothes on his back, his phone, his wallet, and his school things. He had done his research and knew exactly where he would go. There was a homeless shelter a short bus ride away, just outside the city. Far enough away that no one he knew would see him coming and going. He would bus to school in the morning, walk to work after school, and bus back to the shelter at night.

 

**_8\. They take care of you, even if you’re a bit of trouble._ **

 

_ Eventually, the rampant homophobic bullying died down a bit. Don’t get me wrong, it was still there, but it wasn't as bad. That was, until December of my 12th grade year rolled around and- _

 

“Stop right there, Keith.” Bradley ‘asshole of the century’ Harper, blocked Keith’s path into the classroom. 

 

Keith sighed, “just get it over with, dickhead. What name are you going with today?” 

 

Bradley laughed, “oh, I’m not stopping you for that.”

 

Keith rolled his eyes, “then what is it, another ‘party’ I’m invited to? Well, you can put me down as a ‘no’.” 

 

Bradley said nothing, just pointed up. Keith looked up to see plastic mistletoe taped to the doorframe. The entire class was giggling at the whole debacle. Keith fixed Bradley with a deadpan stare, “you’ve got to be fucking kidding me.” 

 

Bradley winked, “you know you want to, Keith.” 

 

He then started making over exaggerated kissy noises, and just as Keith had had enough and pushed Bradley out of the way to get into the classroom, the teacher was coming over to get them to sit down, and Keith accidentally pushed Bradley right into him. 

 

They both went tumbling to the ground, and Keith found himself in the principal’s office and promptly expelled. Keith tried to fight it, saying it was an accident, that he didn’t know the teacher was there, that this wasn’t an offence worthy of expulsion, but they were having none of it. 

 

_ To this day, Lance argues that it was just because I’m gay and they found a convenient excuse to get rid of me. And, I mean, he’s not wrong.  _

 

_ But my expulsion from school is important in this story because it lead to Lance, Maria, and my (shitty) social worker finding out I actually didn’t live with my foster family anymore. Because, a few days later- _

 

Keith was on the bus sunday morning. The flower shop was closed on sundays and he usually made plans with Lance, but Maria insisted that they come and have lunch with her that week. 

 

He was on his way into the city to meet them at the little diner they chose, when his phone rang. Lance was calling him. 

 

“Hey, Lance.” 

 

“Where are you?” 

 

“I’m on my way. I don’t think I’m late, though? I’ll be like, ten minutes probably.” 

 

“Okay, but like,  _ where _ are you?” 

 

“I’m...on my way? On the bus?” On the other end, Lance sighed, “is everything okay?” 

 

“Yeah, everything’s fine. Just get here as soon as you can.” 

 

Lance hung up before Keith could answer. 

 

Keith shrugged off the weird conversation by the time he got off the bus. When he walked into the diner, Keith spotted where Lance and Maria were sitting, but there was one other person with them. 

 

Keith stood next to the table, and looked between Lance, Maria, and the third person. He finally settled on Maria, “why is my social worker here?” 

 

“Keith,” Maria said, “why did you tell us your foster family was still housing you when they weren’t?” 

 

Keith’s face paled, “I...I don’t-” 

 

“You know exactly what we’re talking about,” Lance said. “Why did you lie?” 

 

Keith looked down at his hurt best friend, “I didn’t want to be a burden.”

 

“I told you that you could stay with me if you needed to,” Lance said. 

 

“I know, but...how did you find out? And why is she here?” Keith pointed at his social worker. 

 

Maria stood up and walked around the table to Keith. She pulled him into a hug and just held him for a moment. When she let go, she smiled at Keith, “we were coming to pick you up and surprise you. When we asked for you at your foster home, they said you didn’t live there anymore.” 

 

“Surprise me with what?” 

 

“Keith,” his social worker stood up, and Maria took a step aside so he could see her. Her face was the same neutral expression she’d worn for eleven years, “congratulations.” 

 

Keith was still confused, “on what?” 

 

“You’re getting adopted,” she said, gesturing at Maria. 

 

Keith’s eyes widened, “you’re kidding.” When she shook her head, Keith looked over at Maria, “no way.” 

 

Maria beamed, “yes way. I’ve been working on it since I found out you were a foster kid.” 

 

“Oh my God.” He turned to Lance, “you knew about this?” 

 

Lance nodded, “only for like, a week, but yeah.” 

 

“Oh my God,” he turned back to Maria, “you’re adopting me.” 

 

“That I am.” 

 

“But- but I’m only a year off of being eighteen and- and I’m just trouble, I-”

 

“Keith,” Maria stopped Keith’s spiral before it could even start, “I don’t know what these foster system people have been telling you your entire life, but you’re worth whatever trouble may come our way. As for only being a year away from aging out,” Maria shrugged, “better late than never, I say.”

 

Keith was in so much shock at what had just happened, that he could barely hear the congratulatory applause of the other patrons in the diner as they overheard what was happening. 

 

_ PSA: If you can, for the love of God, ADOPT. TEENAGERS. _

_ Sincerely, a former teenage foster kid.  _

 

**_7\. They’ll defend you._ **

 

_ Once I was out of school, the bullying on Lance died down immensely, at least according to him. I asked him again about it, now that we’re adults and not idiot kids trying to protect each other, and he said he still got snide comments here and there about ‘where’d your boyfriend go, McClain?’.  _

 

_ I thought I’d escaped the bullying once I left school, left my foster home, left the shelter, and started living with Maria in the apartment above the shop. Until- _

 

“Pride arrangements. For June, you know? What do you think?” 

 

Keith stood nervously as Maria looked down at the colourful rainbow arrangements Keith had made. 

 

“I think they’re wonderful!” She looked over at Keith, “these can go in the window display, we’ll make a sign and everything!” 

 

Keith perked up, “really?” 

 

_ Yes, we really made a sign for my pride arrangements. I even made some for other flags, rather than just the rainbow one, and we put them all in the window display. A lot of people loved them. They even went a little viral at the start of Pride Month, before they got swallowed up by all the other excitement. But as you can imagine, some people- _

 

“Excuse me!” 

 

Keith looked up from the crossword he was doing as the bell above the door and a shrill voice rang out through the empty store. “Can I help you?” He asked, putting his pen down. 

 

“Yes, you can help me.” The woman was older, silver hair, wrinkles, most of them seemed like frown lines. She marched up to the counter and pointed towards the window, glaring angrily at Keith, “what the hell is that in your window?” 

 

“A...display?” 

 

She sneered at him, “you know that’s not what I mean. Why can’t you just have a normal display?” 

 

Keith sighed, knowing the conversation he was about to have, “it is a normal display. We decorate our displays for any celebrations. December we have the holidays, October for halloween, and so on. June is Pride Month, so we decorated accordingly.” 

 

The woman turned red in the face, and started to go ballistic on Keith. She called him names and slurs, saying the display was disgraceful, and all the terrible things homophobic people say when they’re being homophobic. 

 

There was nothing Keith could do, so he just sat on his stool, waiting for her to finish and storm out so he could go back to his crossword. Just then, though, Maria came back from the event she had been doing the flowers for.

 

“Hey!” Maria cut in, loud and clear and authoritative. The woman turned to face Maria, “I will not stand for that behaviour in my store, and I will not stand for such language to be used towards him,” she pointed to Keith, “if you don’t like our display, just keep walking. There are plenty of other stores you can go to.” The woman opened her mouth to keep complaining, but Maria held up her hand, “I don’t care, leave. Right now.”

 

The woman huffed and marched out the door, and Keith kept making pride arrangements for an array of identities, even once June was long gone. 

 

_ We also became the staple florist for gay weddings after I started doing pride arrangements. There was one time I did a wedding for these two lovely women, and their colour scheme was the lesbian flag. I was dreaming about the colour pink for weeks. _

 

_ So much pink.  _

 

**_6\. They never forget about you, no matter how long it’s been._ **

 

_ Once high school was done, Lance, naturally, went off to college (theatre and teaching degrees, he wanted to either make it big to be a drama teacher) . He went to one that wasn’t that far away. It was a few cities over, you could honestly take a bus to get there, so he came home a fair bit.  _

 

_ I was worried about him finding better friends and forgetting about me, but he kept insisting- _

 

“-you  _ have  _ to come meet them one day, Keith! Or, I swear to God, I will bring them to you.” 

 

“Do it.” 

 

“Ugh, you’re lame. Just take the bus.” 

 

“I spent enough time on the bus last year, with the whole shelter thing.” 

 

“And whose fault is that?” 

 

“Mine. But still.” 

 

“Well, you’re in luck, Keith Kogane, because I actually talked them all into coming home with me this weekend” 

 

Keith sat up from where he had been lying down on his bed, “no you didn’t.” 

 

“Yes I did, and my TA friend said he’d buy alcohol for us and we can get shitfaced together saturday night.” 

 

Keith flopped back to lying down, “yeah, because last time I drank, it went so well.” 

 

“You don’t have to if you don’t want, but no one is going to out you this time.” 

 

Keith laughed, “okay, okay. Where are we going? Your house?” 

 

“Yeah, my mom said it was fine, that she’s going to go out that night so we can have the house to ourselves.” 

 

“Nice.” 

 

“So after you do your dumb responsibilities just yeet yourself over to my house.” 

 

“My responsibilities aren’t dumb! Maria trusted me to take care of the store while she’s out of town!” 

 

“Yeah, yeah, I know. Saturday?” 

 

“For sure.” 

 

Saturday night came, and Keith closed up shop and headed over to Lance’s house. Not bothering to knock, he waltzed right in like he owned the place. He dropped his (the shop’s) car keys on the table next to the door and kicked his shoes off.

 

“Lance, some strange guy just walked into your house!” A voice Keith didn’t recognize called. 

 

“Keith!” Lance came bounding out of the kitchen and tackled Keith in a hug, “my favourite strange guy!

 

Keith flicked Lance in the forehead, “rude.”

 

Lance ignored him and took him by the wrist, dragging him to the living room, “let me introduce you to everyone!” 

 

There were three people in the living room. Allura, political science major, dyed white hair, and british. Hunk, engineering, but also a passion for cooking, and Lance’s roommate. Pidge, skipped three grades, computer science, must be protected at all costs, and Allura’s roommate. 

 

“And last but not least,” Lance dragged Keith towards the kitchen, “dad of the group, 100% certified grade A beef, Tired, and tonight’s alcohol provider-” 

 

“Keith?” A voice said. 

 

As they entered the kitchen, the man that was unpacking different cases of alcohol stared at Keith,  and Keith stared right back. By all means, Keith shouldn’t have been able to recognize him, he’d grown up and changed so much, and Keith was so young last time, but Keith found the name coming to him immediately.

 

“Shiro?” 

 

Lance looked between the two of them, “you know each other? Since when?” 

 

Keith could only stare at Shiro, even as he addressed Lance, “when I was like, eight, Shiro was another foster kid in the same home as me. He was the first person in the system who- who actually cared about me.” 

 

“But then,” Shiro cut in, “I got adopted, and Keith didn’t. I begged my adoptive parents to take Keith in, too, but they didn’t have the space or funds for two kids.” 

 

“And because I was literally eight and he was literally fifteen, we lost touch. Holy shit.” 

 

“How in the hell did you recognize me?” 

 

Keith, broken out of his initial shock, shrugged, “I don’t know, honestly, you’ve got one less arm and more muscle than I remember. Not to mention the weird white puff of hair.” 

 

Shiro laughed, “stress will do terrible things to you.” 

 

_ I remember when Shiro got adopted, and I was left alone again, I lashed out so bad I got transferred to another home within the week. The world works in mysterious ways, letting things like this happen, bringing people like Shiro and I back together again.  _

 

**_5\. They trust you with their biggest secrets._ **

 

_ It became a tradition, every few weeks, at least once a month, either Lance and his friends would come home and we’d hang out, or I would go to their school and we’d all hang out. Almost always getting shitfaced each time. When they finished their first year, they all came down and we took over Lance’s house again. A little later into the night- _

 

Lance was sitting outside on his back porch. Keith went outside and sat next to him. 

 

“You okay?” 

 

Lance nodded, “yeah, I’m fine.” 

 

“Lance.” He looked up at Keith, “you’re not fooling me. What’s wrong?” 

 

Lance dropped his face into his hands, “I feel so stupid.” 

 

Keith leaned back on his hands, “you’re not stupid.” 

 

Lance sighed, “it’s just- there’s something that I know, that no one else knows. And, logically, I could tell them, and I want to, but I also don’t because while I do, in a sense, know what’ll happen, I also don’t, and it scares me.” 

 

“Hey,” Keith slid closer to Lance, so their arms and legs were touching, “you know you can tell me anything.” 

 

Lance inhaled and sat up straight, then exhaled and relaxed his posture. He looked over at Keith, “anything?” 

 

Keith nodded, “anything.” 

 

“I’m bi.” 

 

Keith hummed, “I could have told you that.”

 

Lance’s eyes widened, “what?!” 

 

Keith chuckled, “Lance, you get really chatty when you’re drunk. A few weeks ago, it was just us, and you were raving about Allura, then five minutes later you were raving about Hunk.” 

 

Lance stared at keith for a moment before breaking down into giggles, which turned into a full-on laugh-out-loud-until-he-couldn’t-breathe, “damn, I was hoping for some sort of dramatic coming out confession scene.” 

 

Keith laughed, “no way, man. You could never beat my drunken emotional breakdown.” 

 

They were silent for a moment.

 

“Remember when we thought I was straight?” Lance said. 

 

“Remember when you thought I was straight?” 

 

Lance did an exaggerated shudder, “those were dark times.” 

 

“Never again.” Keith said with a seriousness that was almost comical. 

 

The two of them broke down into giggles again, before rejoining their friends inside. 

 

_ We still like to bring up ‘remember when you thought I was straight’. It’s usually to get the other to calm down if they’re being needlessly dramatic, or if we just want to be petty.  _

 

**_4\. They celebrate you and your accomplishments._ **

 

_ My 21st birthday rolls around, and- _

 

Keith walked down the set of stairs and through the back door that lead into the shop from the apartment above. 

 

“Surprise!!” 

 

Keith, having expected the store to only have Maria in it, stopped in his tracks. In front of him stood not only Maria, but Lance and their friends, too. 

 

Keith looked between his friends, “aren’t you guys supposed to be at school?” 

 

Lance bounded over to him and threw an arm around his shoulders, “it’s your 21st birthday! You’re legal! We have to celebrate!” 

 

“Lance, it’s barely 7. And I have a wedding I’m doing set-up for today.” 

 

Lance rolled his eyes, “I know that, I meant tonight.” 

 

“Then you’re going to have to entertain yourselves all day, I have shit to do.” Keith stepped away from Lance to go about his usual routine, cleaning and checking if anything needs to be watered, triple-checking the arrangements he spent the day before putting together for the wedding that day. 

 

“Keith, don’t you want your gift?” Maria said, watching him from the counter. 

 

“Maria, you know you didn’t have to-” 

 

She held up a hand, cutting him off, “I know, but you should know that I was going to, anyway. And I think you’re going to really like this one.” 

 

She tossed something through the air. Keith caught it and found that it was a key with a daisy keychain on it. Confused, he looked up at Maria, “this is just your key to the store?” She nodded. “But...I already have one?” 

 

“Maybe so, but it’s more symbolic than anything.” 

 

“Symbolic how?” 

 

Lance groaned, “come on, man. You’re not that oblivious.” 

“I-” 

 

“Keith,” Maria said, “whose key is that?” 

 

“Yours.” 

 

“And who am I? In relation to the store?” 

 

“The owner?” 

 

“So, by giving you that key, I’m…” she trailed off, waiting for Keith to complete her sentence. 

 

It finally clicked. In the four years since Keith had moved into the apartment above the shop with Maria, all the times she would go ‘out of town’ and leave Keith to take care of the shop on his own, to count the cash register at the end of the night. The times she would leave him to do consultations, make arrangements, go to events, do set-up. Everything. She was testing him, making sure he was ready. She was- 

 

“You’re giving me ownership?” 

 

Maria beamed and held up a piece of paper, “all I need is a signature.” 

 

Keith stared, “what is it with you and important, life-changing paperwork behind my back?” 

 

Everyone in the room laughed. Keith walked over and took the pen offered to him, signing the document presented to him. 

 

_ Over the course of the next few months, Maria moved out of the apartment and into another one a short drive away. I took over the bigger room that she had left vacant, and transitioned into being the owner and sole employee at the shop. The transition wasn’t too difficult, though. She had left me on my own for longer and longer periods of time, and I was used to it by then.  _

 

_ I also went out and bought my first (legal) alcoholic drink with my friends that night.  _

 

_ Everything was normal, I was running my shop, living my best life. A year passed, I turned 22, and Lance was in his last year at school. Then May of came around, Lance had graduated, and he moving into an apartment closer to home with the girl he was dating at the time. He was waiting tables and substitute teaching where he could, waiting for either a big acting break or a permanent teaching position.  _

 

_ It was May 15th- _

 

Keith was closing up shop that day, the sun hanging low in the sky. In the past year and a half, he’s started a ‘take what you need, pay what you can’ display outside the shop. It was bouquets make with flowers left over from arrangements and bouquets from events, or seasonal bouquets that didn’t sell, and the season passed. 

 

He was putting some new bouquets in that display out front and was about to go back inside, when he heard a noise. He paused, his hand on the door, waiting to see if he’d hear it again. 

 

Then, it came again. It was a cry, coming from the alleyway next to the shop. Keith stepped away from the door and stood at the entrance on the alleyway. Across from the side door of his building, leading to a door into the shop and the staircase up to his apartment, was a dumpster. Sitting next to the dumpster, was a dirty old gym bag. As Keith got closer, the crying got louder. The gym back was moving, ever so slightly. Keith knelt down and pulled back the unzipped opening of the bag. 

 

Inside was an infant girl, with nothing but a ratty old blanket. Keith swallowed the lump in his throat and willed the sting of tears at the back of his eyes to go away. Ever so slowly, he reached into the bag and pulled the baby girl into his arms and held her close. 

 

In a soft voice, he hushed the baby, “I know, it’s scary being left alone,” he said, “it’s okay, I’ve got you now, you’ll be okay.” He stood up, “come on, let’s get you inside. I’ll wrap you up in a better blanket.” 

 

Keith barely spared a second glance to the alleyway as he returned to the main door of the shop. Once the door of his apartment closed behind him, reality finally hit him. 

 

“Holy shit.” Keith looked down at the now calm infant in his arms, “holy  _ shit _ .” 

 

He pulled a clean towel out of his bathroom and laid it on the floor of his living room. He put the baby down on the table and wrapped her up as best as he could. Keith then took out his phone and dialled the first person that came to mind. 

 

“Hello?” 

 

“Lance! I need you to come over right now.” 

 

“Keith? Are you okay? What happened.” 

 

“I found a baby,” Keith breathed. 

 

There was a few beats of silence, “what.” 

 

“I found. A baby.” Keith repeated. 

 

“Yeah I heard that part. How do you just  _ find  _ a baby?” 

 

Keith shrugged, not taking his eyes of the infant in front of him, “I don’t know, I’m pretty sure she was just abandoned. I found her in the alley next to the shop in a gym bag. I don’t know what I’m supposed to do.” 

 

“And you thought  _ I  _ did?!” 

 

Keith threw his free hand in the air, “I don’t know! I just called the first person I could think of! You’re good in a crisis!” 

 

“Not really!” 

 

“Lance! What do I do?!” 

 

“You probably need to call the police or something. They should know what to do.” 

 

Keith sighed, “right. Obviously. Thanks, man.” 

 

“Let me know what happens.” 

 

Keith hung up and dialled 911. After explaining his predicament to the operator, there was paramedics at his door five minutes later. Obviously, and infant being left alone for who-knows-how-long outside was cause for concern. After some mild pleading, they let Keith go with them to the hospital. 

 

Once there, police showed up and questioned him about what happened, he said he could look up the security cam footage once back at his apartment. 

 

_ Shortly after the cops questioned me, a doctor came out and asked if I was the one who showed up with the foundling (the term they use for abandoned babies). I said yes, and, thankfully, she was perfectly fine, and she couldn’t have been any older than a day or two. I asked about what was going to happen to her. He said that there would be efforts to find her parents and/or relatives, but I could apply to adopt her or be her guardian in the case that they couldn’t find any relatives.  _

 

_ And, since Lance could read me like a book, even back then, when I told him about this- _

 

“You’re not seriously thinking about it, are you?” Lance said. 

 

They were sitting on Keith’s couch, pretending to pay attention to a movie he had playing. He avoided Lance’s eyes, “I- what- no, why would-” 

 

“Don’t lie to me, Keith Kogane, I know what you’re thinking.” 

 

Keith sighed, “yes, okay, I’m absolutely thinking about it.” 

 

“Dude.” Keith looked over at Lance, “you’re way past thinking about it, I can tell.” 

 

Keith bit his lip, “okay, so maybe I’ve already started the application.” 

 

“Keith.” He finally met Lance’s eyes, “this isn’t something you can do out of nowhere. If it goes through, there’s no going back. Not that I think you would, but you can’t change your mind.” 

 

“I know,” Keith said, his voice going quiet, “but if they don’t find any relatives, I can’t just leave her to the system. Even if she is a baby, there’s no guarantee she’ll get adopted. If I just leave her to the system, I know I’ll spend the rest of my life wondering if she’s turning out like I did.” 

 

“Like you did?” 

 

Keith rolled his eyes, “you know what I mean, Lance. Alone, angry, trust issues, all that fun stuff.” 

 

Lance nodded, “okay. If you’re sure about this, I’ll support you through it.” Keith beamed. “Plus, then I get to be ‘Cool Uncle Lance’ to yet another kid, and I can tell her embarrassing stories about you.” 

 

_ Surprisingly, it didn’t take ages and ages for me to get custody of her. Three months, two weeks, and three days after I found her, Daisy Maria Kogane was the newest addition to my life. And I’m not ashamed to say I cried when I found out I was approved.  _

 

_ My friends all threw me a surprise baby shower and bought us all kinds of clothes and toys and other assorted baby things. To say it was a plot twist that I was the first of us to be a parent was an understatement, especially considering before Daisy, my cooking skills consisted of takeout, microwave ramen, and peanut butter sandwiches.  _

 

**_3\. They let you see them and take care of them at their most vulnerable._ **

 

_ I don’t know how, but somehow over the years, I started spending Christmas with Lance and his family. I would go over on Christmas eve, and we’d all celebrate, then we’d sleep over and do Christmas morning there.  _

 

_ On Daisy’s second Christmas, when she was just over a year and a half, I picked up Lance and his then-girlfriend Olivia from their apartment and drove over to Lance’s childhood house. We all walked in- _

 

“I brought guests!” Lance announced as he bounded through the door, Olivia, Keith, and Daisy in tow. 

 

Keith laughed, “I drove us here so, technically, I brought you.” 

 

“It’s my house, mullet.” 

 

“Not a mullet.” 

 

Their bickering was quickly forgotten as Lance’s mom came over and started doting on all of them, and Christmas went on as normal. They ate a lot of food, played games, talked, and drank. Later, after the kids had all gone to bed, and the adults were shifting between the kitchen and living room for food and talking, Keith noticed Lance was nowhere to be found. 

 

Keith went to the kitchen and saw him sitting out on his back porch, alone. 

 

“You’re going to freeze out here,” Keith said, dropping Lance’s coat on top of him. 

 

Lance let out a breathy laugh, watching his visible breath drift away, “I was fine.” 

 

Keith sat down, pulling his own coat closer to himself, “what are you doing out here?” 

 

Lance shrugged, “just getting some fresh air, it was getting stuffy in there.” 

 

Keith hummed, “well, here we are, sitting out on your back porch late at night, while a group of people are inside drinking.” There was a beat of silence, “seems familiar.” 

 

The corner of Lance’s mouth quirked up into half a smile, “it’s like when I came out to you, forever ago.” 

 

“So,” Keith breathed some warm air into his cold hands, rubbing them together to warm up, “got any big secrets to spill to me?” 

 

Lance laughed, “well, none like last time where you already know about it.” They fell into a comfortable silence for a minute or two when Lance said, “how do you do the dad thing?” 

 

Keith shrugged, “I don’t know, honestly. I’m just trying to be the parent I wish I had when I was a kid.” Lance nodded along. “Why?” 

 

Lance quiet for a moment. “I”m going to be a dad,” he whispered, “Olivia’s pregnant. We’re going to tell everyone tonight.” 

 

“How long have you known?”

 

Lance shrugged, “a few months. She said people usually wait three months before telling people.” 

 

“And how do you feel?” 

 

Lance shrugged, “Scared? Excited? Both, maybe? I’m not sure.”

 

“That’s normal. I mean, I didn’t have the nine months preparation, but I was still terrified.” 

 

“It’s just like, I’m still waiting for a permanent job, and even though Olivia does have one, and we’ll be fine financially, I’m still scared.” Lance licked his lips, “it’s twins, Keith. Two babies, not one.”  

 

“Lance,” Keith put a hand on his shoulder, “you’ll be okay. It’s scary, it’s always scary. I bet if you asked your mom she’ll tell you she was scared for each of her kids. I’m learning that that’s just what parenting is. You’ll be a great dad, and if you ever need anything, you know I’m here.” 

 

Lance smiled, “thanks, Keith.”

 

Just then, the door opened, and Olivia stood there. “Lance?” She said, “you ready?” 

 

_ Lance’s family took the news incredibly well. Obviously, there’s always some uncertainty with an unplanned pregnancy like that, but they were all very supportive. Lance’s mom even threw them a baby shower/gender reveal party. Over time, Lance’s fears were overtaken by his excitement. The more the twins grew, the more real it felt to him, and he just got more and more enthusiastic.  _

 

_ Lance and Olivia decided that they’d wait until after they were born and things settled down to get married.  _

 

_ The boys were born September 15th. Exactly two years and four months after Daisy’s ‘birthday’, Noah Marco McClain and Milo Luis McClain came into the world. Lance was ecstatic, and everything was going as good as it could for a young, new parent to twins until a week later- _

 

Keith was woken up by the incessant buzzing of his ringing phone. He picked it up and squinted at the bright screen in his dark bedroom. The caller ID was Lance. 

 

“Lance? It’s 2am.” 

 

“Keith, I need you here.” 

 

Keith was snapped to full alertness at the sound of Lance’s voice, “are you crying? What happened? Are you okay?” 

 

“Please, Keith, you need to come here.” 

 

Keith threw his covers off and started pulling on a pair of socks, “okay, Lance I need you to breathe, okay? You need to tell me what’s going on. Is something wrong with the boys?” 

 

He could hear Lance take a shaky breath on the other end of the line, “no, they’re fine. I just need you to come over, please.” 

 

“Okay, okay I’m on my way, I’ll be there soon. Just hang in there.” 

 

“Okay.” 

 

Lance hung up on Keith, then. Keith threw on a jacket and put his phone in the pocket. He went into Daisy’s room. He really didn’t want to wake her up, but he also couldn’t leave a two-year old alone in the middle of the night. He knelt next to her brand-new big girl bed, and put a hand on her back to gently wake her up. 

 

“Daisy?” She opened her eyes slightly, “we’re going to go on a little adventure, okay? We’re going to go to Uncle Lance’s house.” 

 

Still pretty much asleep, she mumbled some incoherent toddler words and closed her eyes again. Keith took that as a go-ahead to pick her up himself. Packing her into the car along with at least one of her stuffed animals, Keith drove to Lance’s apartment as quickly as he could. 

 

When Lance opened the door, Keith could clearly see that he’d been crying a lot. His face was red and blotchy, and his eyes were still watery. 

 

“Okay,” Keith said, voice soft, once he put Daisy down on Lance’s bed, and returning to the living room area, “what happened?” 

 

Keith sat down next to Lance on the couch as Lance told him. Apparently, since the boys had come home the week before, Olivia had been very removed and quiet. Lance had done his research and knew about postpartum depression, so he just did his best to support her and take care of the boys where she couldn’t. 

 

“Then, tonight, I woke up to the boys crying, and Olivia wasn’t in bed with me. So, I thought maybe she was already there, or in the bathroom or something. Once I settled the babies down, I went looking for her,” Lance’s voice caught in his throat, “and I found this.” 

 

Keith noticed for the first time that Lance was holding a piece of paper. When he handed it to him, it said: 

 

_ Lance,  _

 

_ I can’t do this, I’m sorry. I’m not ready for this. Don’t try and contact me.  _

 

_ Bye.  _

_ Olivia. _

 

“Oh, Lance,” Keith looked up at his best friend, “I’m so sorry.” 

 

“I don’t know what I’m going to do,” Lance dropped his head in his hands, “I can’t afford to live here and take care of the boys’ needs all on my own.” 

 

Keith looked down at the note, and back up at Lance. 

 

“Lance,” he put a hand on his shoulder, getting his attention, “why don’t you just come live with me?” 

 

“With you?” 

 

Keith shrugged, “why not? I’ve got an extra room we can convert into a bedroom for the boys, we can share my room, split the bills. And we can sell furniture you don’t need, like the kitchen table and the couch.” 

 

Lance stared at Keith, “you’re serious?” 

 

He nodded, “completely serious.” 

 

Lance pulled Keith into a tight hug, “thank you thank you thank you.” 

 

Keith smiled, “what else are best friends for?” 

 

_ Once Lance’s contract was up with that apartment, he officially moved into my apartment. The spare room was converted into the boys’ nursery, and ultimately, Lance and I just decided to share my bed. It was a Queen, and we’d both have to downgrade a bed size if we wanted to fit two beds into that room. Or, we’d have to rearrange the room completely and as two single dads, we took the easy way out. It’s not like we hadn’t shared a bed in the past, anyway.  _

 

_ Turns out, sharing a bed night after night and taking care of kids together is a lot different than drunkenly passing out in the same bed.  _

 

**_2\. They trust that you’ll stick around for them._ **

 

_ I know I already had a title like this, but it’s important, trust me.  _

 

_ After about a year of living with Lance, the kids were no longer: Daisy, my kid, and Noah and Milo, Lance’s kids. The three of them were just our kids. The kids. We were basically married without even dating yet, and I was hopelessly in love with Lance only a few months in.  _

 

_ I didn’t dare say anything, though. I didn’t want to drive him away or make things awkward. His girlfriend had also just left him out of nowhere in the middle of the night, leaving him alone with infant twins...confessing that I was head-over-heels in love with him barely six months after that is not exactly the best move.  _

 

_ So, one year and five months-ish after Lance had moved in, it was valentine’s day, and- _

 

Keith walked into the apartment after finally,  _ finally _ , closing down the shop for the day. He was sweaty, tired, and covered in little pricks from all the damn roses he sold that day. 

 

“Daddy!!” A small voice called from down the hall. Keith smiled and walked down to the bathroom to see Daisy in the bathtub, surrounded by bubbles, and Lance sitting on the floor, his t-shirt soaked, “daddy, look! I’m Santa!” Daisy picked up bubble and covered her face with them, making a bubble beard, “ho, ho, ho!” 

 

Keith gasped, “oh my gosh! Santa! It’s only February, you should be at the North Pole!” 

 

Daisy giggled, “I’m Santa! You’re on the Naughty List!” 

 

Keith kneeled next to the tub, “no! Not the Naughty List!” 

 

“To get on the Nice List, let Daisy go to bed later!” 

 

Keith laughed, “not happening, sunshine.” He stood up and grabbed a towel, “come on, you need to put on your jammies.” 

 

Daisy sunk away from Keith, “no, I’m the bubble queen, this is my kingdom.” 

 

Lance giggled and Keith looked down and fixed him with a look, “she gets this from you, you know?” He turned back to his rebellious three year old, “okay, bubble queen, it’s time to put on your royal jammies and retire to your royal chambers until tomorrow morning.” 

 

Daisy relented and let Keith dry her off and put her to bed. Once she got her bedtime story and was tucked into bed, Keith closed the door softly behind him and turned to see Lance standing at the entranceway to the hall. 

 

“Dinner?” He asked. 

 

“God, yes. I should shower first, though. I’m covered in dirt and sweat.” 

 

Lance laughed, “gross. Well, I ordered pizza, so it’ll be here by the time you’re ready.” 

 

Keith nodded and made his way to the bathroom. Twenty minutes later, he was scrubbed clean and in a fresh pair of pajamas. He walked into the living room to find the coffee table covered with two boxes of pizza, a few cans of pop, and a box of garlic bread. Lance was sitting on the couch, clicking through Netflix. 

 

Keith sat down, they picked a not-romance movie, since Keith would probably explode if he had to see another red rose that day, and chowed down on their pizza. 

 

By the time the movie ended and all their food was gone, Keith was half asleep on the couch. 

 

“Keith?” Keith hummed to show he was listening, “the high school called me today.” 

 

Keith opened his eyes and sat up, looking at Lance, “what did they say?” 

 

Lance licked his lips, “well, Keith, you are looking at that school’s new drama teacher!” 

 

Keith beamed, “holy shit, Lance! That’s amazing!” 

 

Lance sagged into the couch, “no more waiting tables.” 

 

Keith was about to respond, when a small voice got his attention, “daddy?” 

 

Keith turned to see that, somehow, Daisy had gotten out of bed and walked all the way to stand next to the couch without either him or Lance noticing.

 

“Daisy? What are you doing out of bed?” 

 

“Can’t sleep.” She looked over at Lance, “are you leaving?” 

 

“Why would I be leaving, sweetheart?” 

 

Daisy sniffled, tears in her eyes, “I ‘member a long time ago, you said you were staying here until you got a different job.” 

 

Keith lifted her up to sit in his lap. He brushed a few wisps of her hair out of her face, and wiped away the tears that had fallen. “That doesn’t mean he’s leaving tomorrow. He would still have to save money and find somewhere else to live.” He pulled her into his chest and hugged her tight, “don’t worry, sunshine, Lance is still going to be stuck with us for a while.” Keith smiled over at him. 

 

“Hey, Daisy,” Lance leaned over and poked her in the side. She lifted her head and looked over at him, “why don’t I read you another bedtime story and tuck you back into bed?” 

 

Daisy nodded, climbing out of Keith’s arms and taking the hand Lance offered to her, letting herself be led back to her bedroom. Keith sighed, standing up and clearing away their empty pizza boxes and pop cans. By the time Lance came back, everything was cleaned up. 

 

Lance walked right up to Keith and pulled him into a tight hug. Having become accustomed to Lance’s constant physical affection over the years, Keith hugged him back. When Lance let go, Keith asked, “what was that for?” 

 

Lance sighed, “just for being my best friend, and for making the impulsive decision to adopt at 22.” 

 

Keith laughed, “she’s going to miss you when you move out.”  _ I’m going to miss you too, please don’t leave _ , were the unspoken parts of that sentence. 

 

Lance let out a half-hearted laugh, “yeah, I know. But, um,” he hesitated, avoiding Keith’s eyes, “Keith, there’s actually something I’ve been wanting to talk to you about.” 

 

“Which is?”  _ ‘You want to stay here with me? With us?’  _

 

“Can we sit down?” They moved from the kitchen to the living room, and sat down on opposite sides of the couch. “Keith, I don’t know how this is going to go down, but for months now, I’ve been dying to just spit it out. And, I don’t know how you’re going to feel about it, or how you’re going to take it, or-” 

 

“Lance.” Keith cut off Lance’s rambling, “you can tell me anything, remember?” 

 

Lance took a deep breath, “right. Anything.” Lance looked up and Keith met his eyes. “Keith, I am terribly, horribly, hopelessly in love with you.” 

 

Keith could do nothing but stare. He’d been thinking about this confession for ages, but he found he couldn’t do anything. After a few moments of silence, Lance sighed and stood up. “I’m sorry, Keith. If it’s weird, I can sleep here on the couch until I leave. You can forget this happened.” 

 

Lance started to walk away, probably to get a pillow and blanket, when Keith was finally broken out of his stupor. 

 

“No!” Keith half-shouted. Wincing at his volume, remembering there are kids sleeping, Keith tried again, “no, Lance, it’s okay, you don’t have to-” 

 

“No, Keith, I shouldn’t have said anything. You don’t have to try and spare my feelings.” 

 

“No, Lance,” Keith crossed the room to stand in front of Lance. He cupped Lance’s face in his hands, “you seriously have no idea how long I’ve been waiting to hear you say that.” 

 

It was then Lance’s turn to have his eyes go wide, “seriously?” 

 

Keith nodded, grinning so wide, he could swear it was reaching his ears, “100% seriously.” 

 

The two of them broke down into laughter, and Keith dropped his hands to wrap around Lance’s neck as he pulled Lance down into their first of many kisses. 

 

_ Before anyone asks, yes, all of our friends and family said ‘well, it’s about time’ when we told them.  _

 

**_1\. They plan nice things for you._ **

 

_ Considering Lance and I were more or less already married, we only dated for a year before we proposed to each other, and another year before the actual wedding.  _

 

_ And I’m proud to announce, that when it came to proposing, I beat Lance to the punch. You see, it was- _

 

The final performance task of Lance’s second semester grade 11 class was nearing its end. It was the first year Lance had worked at the school, and Keith figured, why not give him something special to remember his first year as a ‘real’ teacher by? 

 

Keith was sitting in a corner backstage. He had enlisted the help of Lance’s class to pull off his plan. After the students finished their bows, the called Lance up on stage. 

 

“Mr. McClain,” one of the students said, “since this is your first year at this school with all of us, we decided to get you something special.” 

 

Another student handed Lance a flower arrangement. Not a bouquet, but an actual arrangement in a pot. Lance laughed, “you guys do know that I live with a florist, right?” 

 

“Where do you think we got the flowers?” The first student said, drawing another laugh out of Lance. “Read the card out loud.” 

 

Lance pulled the little folded card, no bigger than a business card when folded in half, out of the tall, plastic holder. “Dear Mr. McClain,” he read, “the flowers weren’t our idea, look further into the flowers for your real gift.” 

 

Lance looked around at his students, confused. One of them took the card from him, and he used one hand to push aside some of the flowers. Keith knew what he would find in there, after a moment, Lance froze pulling a small, velvet box out from the middle of the arrangement. Keith came out on stage. The students in the audience started buzzing with excitement. Keith tried to swallow his nerves, and as soon as Lance turned and saw him, Keith could relax fully. Lance already had tears in his eyes. 

 

“Yes,” he said, “yes, Keith, yes.” 

 

Keith took the box out of Lance’s hand and got down on his knee, “I didn’t even ask you yet, dipshit.” The students around them laughed. Keith looked up at Lance, “Lance, you’re my best fr-” 

 

“Save it for the vows, Keith, just ask!” Lance said. 

 

Keith laughed, “Lance McClain, will you marry me?” 

 

“Yes, Keith Kogane, I think I will.” 

 

_ He might have cried and said yes, but he kept moaning about how I beat him to it. He also kept saying that we weren’t officially engaged and we weren’t allowed to tell people until he proposed too. _

 

_ His proposal came a few months later. It was Christmas- _

 

Keith woke up to an alarm going off. It was 3am on Christmas morning, and he had no idea why he had an alarm going off. He opened his eyes to find that he was alone in bed, and it was Lance’s phone going off. There was a note on top of the phone, and once Keith turned the alarm off, he looked at the note. 

 

_ Go to the front door. _

 

At the front door, there was another note: 

 

_ Bundle up and follow the lights. _

 

Coat and boots on, Keith went outside to find strings of Christmas lights on the ground. He followed them around the side of the house and into the backyard. There, Lance stood on the back porch, waiting for him. 

 

“Hey there, beautiful.” 

 

Keith joined Lance on the porch, “Lance, it’s 3am.” 

 

Lance laughed, “I know, but I needed to set this up while you were asleep.” 

 

“What are you even doing.” 

 

Lance quirked an eyebrow, “I think you already know the answer to that question.” 

 

Keith grinned, “tell me anyway.” 

 

“Well,” Lance said, “I’ve told you some pretty important things on this back porch, so I figured why not add one more to the list?” Lance got down on one knee, pulling out a ring box and opening it, “I love you, Keith. Will you marry me?” 

 

“Yes, I’ll marry you.” 

 

_ Then the wedding came a little over a year later, and the ceremony went about as well as it could, considering there were two four  year olds and a six year old involved. Right before the vows- _

 

The boys were screaming crying, and Lance’s parents couldn’t get them to calm down. Keith and Lance just smiled at each other. 

 

Lance turned to the man officiating for them, “one moment, please.” 

 

Keith and Lance stepped away from their altar, and each took a twin. The boys kept crying, so they swapped twins, and they calmed down right away. They went back up to the altar, each with a toddler in their arms and finished getting married. 

 

After they said their I Do’s and shared their kiss, rather than taking each other’s hands, they each held one of Daisy’s and walked back up the aisle as a family. Daisy in the middle, and each holding a twin. 

 

_ That was nearly six years ago. Daisy’s 11 now, the boys are 9, and Lance and I are happier than ever.  _

 

_ So, when I said my family isn’t ‘traditional’, I wasn’t kidding. There’s still so much life ahead of myself and my family, and there’s no way of knowing what could happen, but if the events listed here taught me anything, it’s that any problem you’re facing will find its place in curating your happy ending.  _

 

_ As someone who, for the longest time, thought I would never get a happy ending of any sort, it’s really something I wish I could have heard as a kid.  _

 

_ Hang in there, you’ll make it through this.  _

 

_ -Keith Kogane, 35 _   
  


**Author's Note:**

> This is literally the longest thing I've ever written I'm so damn proud of myself holy shit. 
> 
> Also, this is an au that I've had in my head for ages and ages now, and there's honestly so much more to it that I didn't write here, just due to time constraints, laziness, and my writing abilities. There's also alternate versions of this same au, so please please feel free to come and yell at me about this au and ask me questions, I will gladly tell you about when the kids are teens, or more things that happened at a certain point in Keith and Lance's lives, or alternate ways they met or confessed etc. etc. etc. 
> 
> My tumblr is @fandomsnstuff, come yell with me about this.


End file.
